Bike Crashing And Lettuce Pilfering…

Things are moving right along here in the very temperate Kentucky spring. This saved my life or at least kept me from having a serious brain injury…

I was taking my normal 30 mile ride a week or so ago and this route passes by downtown Louisville’s newest “attraction”, a pedestrian bridge over the Ohio River with an enormous spiral ramp on the Louisville side…

My interest in the bridge is that it would provide cyclists with a safer route to Indiana than the 2nd St. bridge which is not a bridge I’d take to get to Indiana on my bike. Unfortunately the Indiana side’s ramp remains unfinished. Months ago Sofia and I traipsed up the ramp and across the river only to find that the other side was closed still. Someone told me that it would be finished by late May so when I was riding by I thought I’d go up on my bike and see if it was finished… it wasn’t. As I came down the ramp (which wasn’t crowded) I approached two groups of people. Three were on my right coming up the ramp and three teenage girls were on my left going down the ramp. As I approached, the 3 coming toward me were closer to me and the 3 moving away were getting further away creating a gap which was more than ample to zig through. So I drifted to the left intending to cut to the right as I passed the closer group and as I passed them the girl closest to me moving away caught a glimpse of me in her periphery and panicked. She did that thing squirrels do when you approach them in your car. Fake left, then right, then left. Her eventual direction, of course, was into me and my handle bar snagged her purse strap. And down I went, smashing my protected head on the concrete as well as scraping my right shoulder, elbow, hip and worst, my knee. As I lie writhing in pain, the girls decided to pick my bike up for some reason and didn’t understand that my right foot was still clipped to the pedal. During the first 30 seconds or so, you know, when the pain is too intense to really speak… the girls are lifting my bike and wrenching my ankle because my shoe was still engaged. I finally managed to squeak out, “my foot is attached”. Oh they said and laid the bike back down and I twisted my foot free. As they walked away I heard one say, “that’s kinda dangerous”. I’m glad she survived OK. Anyway, no broken bones and no concussion or brain damage. Hurray for the helmet.

In other news, the bug is 4 days away from finishing the 2nd grade… hard to believe. Here she is making fairy houses at some school thingie…

Another thing they did at the school was plant a garden with a bunch of different greens. Since it’s the last week, each child harvested a bunch of greens to bring home… they were delicious. There was quite a bit left over and the bug’s teacher told Mom that if she wanted to take some of what was left to help herself because it was just gonna go to waste. So the following day, Mom walked Sofia to school and afterwards grabbed some romaine and collard greens. The day after that a woman at the school called her into her office to let her know that a different woman at the school had seen Mom “stealing” from the kids’ garden and took a picture of her in the act with her phone. Of course, this all got straightened out but we thought it amusing that someone would think we’d go on a lettuce pilfering extravaganza. Oh well. I’m done throwing, trimming, terra sig-ing and burnishing and am ready to begin shellacking next week. Here’s some shots at various stages…

Here, when we walk in the area my son lives in, the bike riders call the way they plan to go. Your right, they will yell. I find that really helpful, otherwise, I would be that deer in the headlights.
The bug is getting so big.
Stealing greens……go for a water melon next time.

So, did the girls check to see if YOU were ok, or were they just concerned about the bike?
And if the woman was so concerned about lettuce theft why didn’t she say something instead of just taking a picture?
Perhaps it is just my cynical nature, but sounds like two more reasons I have little faith in humanity.